1999, WHEN KTM GOT SERIOUS ABOUT FOUR-STROKES: THE WEEKLY FEED

Back in 1999, KTM was a two-stroke company. The LC4 was a playbike that had been hammered into a racing role by a few passionate engineers, riders and mechanics, but it was dated and the arrival of the Yamaha YZ400F forced KTM to act quickly. The quick solution was to buy Husaberg and use that company’s technology to jump-start a new program of Racing Four-Strokes (appropriately named the “RFS” engines). In 1999, KTM raced the World Enduro Championship on prototype four-strokes and won the 400 class, Then they invited Dirt Bike to the site of the final round to ride the prototypes. Here is what we said in the October, 1999 issue.

Of all the new four-strokes on the horizon, from the mysterious rumored Honda to the spacey new Cannondale, only the KTM will come into the world with guaranteed success. How?
Before the first one rolls off the assembly line, before the first dealer sells one, it already will be a world champion. The development for the new motorcycle was accomplished in European races and in the process, Giovanni Sala won the 400cc Enduro championship, wrapping it up at the final round in Dvur Kralove, Czechoslovakia. The day after that happened, the world-traveling editorial staff of Dirt Bike showed up in Dvur Kralove (pronounced with great difficulty) to ride Sala’s preproduction 400 EXC, as well as Kari Tiainen’s 520cc version. The racing season was finished, so they figured no matter how badly we bent up the bike, it wouldn’t matter. Naturally, we abused the privilege as much as possible.

The bikes we rode were the enduro versions. The motocrossers were being developed under a different program with Peter Johansson and Shayne King still in the thick of the GP wars. The bikes are wet sump (oil carried in the case) six-speeds with a single chain-driven overhead cam, four-valves and electric starting. If that sounds very Husaberg-like, then you win the home version of our new Technical Word Association Jeopardy. KTM engineers took a close look at the Husaberg motor before starting. In fact, for the first few races, the bikes actually used Husaberg heads. Other ideas were taken from Japan. The drive chain is on the left side. And the bike will have virtually the same carburetor that came stock on the 1999 Yamaha YZ400, electronically wired into a Kokusan ignition. Like the YZ, the KTM’s throttle opening helps determine ignition timing. KTM doesn’t mind sourcing parts from Japan–the Austrian engineers complain that it takes a long time to have anything custom-designed by the Japanese, but when it’s finally done, it’s right the first time. A couple of interesting notes: The new four-stroke motor is actually a little narrower than the existing KTM two-stroke motor. That’s impressive, considering it has an extra gear set inside (at least in the enduro version. The motocrosser will be a four-speed without electric starting). The motor is wedged into the existing KTM two-stroke chassis with as few changes as possible. The engine has two header pipes, both exiting between wishbone downtubes and leading back to an incredibly quiet muffler. The bike is a little taller from the pegs to the seat than the two-stroke-that’s fine for riders of medium height, because some considered the existing KTM riding position to be a little cramped.
Now for the Big Number. According to KTM engineers (those are the guys who use real numbers, as opposed to the marketing guys, who use Monopoly numbers), the enduro bike with full lights, electric starter and kickstand, in either 400 or 520 version, will weigh 115 kilos. Multiply that by 2.2 on the Dirt Bike calculator and you get 253 pounds, or about as much as a Yamaha YZ400 motocrosser.

Unfortunately, Czech customs would not let the fabulously accurate Dirt Bike atomic scale into the country. But we believe the weight figure. Sure, it has an electric starter and a battery, but the Yamaha has an extra cam, a counterbalancer and a motor that’s physically about 20 percent larger. When you lift the KTM off the stand, it feels about as heavy as it should feel. When you get on board, it feels as narrow and small as it should feel, if it were a two-stroke.
Forget all the shallow-end-first business; we rode the 520 first. It’s fast. Way fast. If you know what a Husaberg 501 motor feels like, then you’ve got most of the picture. The KTM has that same low-end snap followed by a long, hard pull. It’s not as much of a revver as either a Yamaha or a Husaberg, but that’s fine. By the time you get to the higher revs, you don’t want any more. The motor is super responsive. You don’t have to wait around for it to lumber up to speed like older KTM four-strokes. When you open the throttle, things happen fast, more like a Yamaha. And it’s making all this power with a full-enduro muffler. We can only guess what the MX version will be like.
Is it too fast? That depends on what you plan to do with it. In really tight woods, it might be a handful. But the bike feels so light, it’s hard to get into too much trouble. It really does handle just like a KTM two-stroke. These days, that’s hard to beat. KTM lost the funky Euro-bike feel years ago. You can jump off a Japanese bike onto the 520 and feel right at home. The suspension on our test bike was great. Actually, we rode two different 520s: Kari Tiainen’s and Fabio Farioli’s. Both bikes had WP inverted forks and PDS no-linkage rear suspension, but they were set up for those particular riders. Tiainen’s was softer than Farioli’s, but chances are that the production version will be softer still. The race bikes also had some impractical touches like super-short-life fork seals that have no friction, but only last a day or so. They were certainly plush but were weeping by the end of the test session.·

After riding the big bike, the 400 felt exactly like you would expect. It’s a mellow 520. That means it’s easier to ride and more fun in the tight stuff. It clearly isn’t as fast as the 520 (thank goodness), but it’s just as responsive. Again, it’s hard not to make comparisons to a Husaberg. We know, that doesn’t do 99.9 percent of the world at large much good. But the remaining 0.1 percent of you will notice the bike’s descendancy from a ‘Berg 400 right away. For the rest of you, the power is a cross between Yamaha WR400 and Honda XR400. The bike doesn’t rev as high as a Yamaha, and it makes most of its power right in the middle. We would guess that in a turn-to-turn drag race with an unplugged WR, the KTM might lose just a little ground. But you have to remember that an unplugged WR is just that: unplugged and super loud. If you managed to get the Yamaha down to the same noise level as the KTM, it would be more equal. And if you left the stock plug in the WR pipe, the KTM would walk away.
Is there anything that wasn’t perfect during our brief test ride? Tiainen’s bike had a slight carburetion glitch–the bike would hiccup on jumps. It might have been the result of an exhaust leak. Remember, it had been raced in a world championship enduro round the day before. Farioli’s bike was fine. All the bikes seemed to run a little hot, which is typical of wet-sump motors. But after hours of riding on a hot day, none of the machines steamed or boiled. Not that we didn’t try.

KTM still produced the LC4 in 1999. It was a decent bike with 10 years of refinement, but it was no racer. Lance Smail and Tom Moen got one to perform in Supercross, but it was no easy task.

… there’s still that magic button. Electric starters on dirt bikes have been around long enough now that they are no risk anymore. We’ve never had a failure that’s more serious than a dead battery. Just to say we did, we started the 520 with the kickstarter once. It fired right up. KTM engineers say that the battery and the starter cost about 15 pounds. On any four-stroke, that’s weight well spent. No matter how simple the drill is, there are riders who will never master the art of kickstarting a thumper. Even they, however, can push a button. Will the production versions be as good as the race hikes that we rode? Will the bikes gain weight in the process? Will the bikes be as good on American soil as they were in Czecho? We’ll have to wait a few months to find out. KTM is now moving into a new 80,000 square-foot factory and the four-strokes will start rolling off that assembly line in December. We’re not scared, though. If the real things are half as good as the bikes we rode, we’re going to have a fun year.

REMEMBER THIS ONE?

While we were looking back at 1999, we came across Jeremy’s tribute to the Austin Powers movie series. Awesome.

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